By Steve Giles, on December 23rd, 2011 From the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl to the Rose Bowl and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl to the Allstate BCS National Championship, the college football bowl season is upon us. I know there is constant talk about having a playoff in college football, but I personally enjoy bowl season. There are some intriguing matchups between teams that wouldn’t normally face one another. On the other hand, there are also some games that lack the excitement factor, unless of course you have a connection to one of the schools. But if nothing else, bowl games provides us sports fans with our football fix for just over three weeks.
The BCS bowl games are where it’s at, though. They provide us with matchups between the premier teams in college football, which make for some exciting football. All of the games have their own storylines and intriguing factors, but here is how I ranked this year’s five BCS bowl matchups.
5. Discover Orange Bowl
No. 15 Clemson vs. No. 23 West Virginia
Jan. 4, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
This game may not be as close as some people expect. First of all, West Virginia’s schedule was relatively easy and they still managed to lose three games and eek out wins in their last three games of the regular season. Clemson struggled over the last month of the regular season as well, but finished the season strong after crushing Virginia Tech 38-10 in the ACC championship game. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on November 29th, 2011
By Steve Giles, on November 15th, 2011
By Steve Giles, on November 8th, 2011
By Steve Giles, on September 18th, 2011
By Steve Giles, on September 6th, 2011
The 2011 college football season is underway, which means the SB Nation College Football BlogPoll will once again be a weekly feature on BSR. I will be representing our site again this year and posting my rankings every Tuesday morning along with some thoughts about what occurred over the weekend. Above are my rankings after the first full weekend of college football. Oklahoma still gets the top spot as they blew out Tulsa, 47-14 and Alabama stays right behind them at No. 2. LSU made their way to No. 3 after handling business against previously ranked No. 3 Oregon, who slipped down to No. 10. Feel free to throw your two cents in and let me know how you think I did with the rankings. Here are a few observations I made after the first full weekend of college football. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 30th, 2011  I’m sure the question of how Jimmy Smith will pan out as a professional has been asked multiple times since the Ravens drafted him back in April. And even though it is yet to be answered, at least we have a few glimpses of live footage, albeit preseason, that have given us something to work with. Like any rookie, he has struggled at times, but has looked good at times as well. There’s no doubt this guy has the most raw talent of any young cornerback in the NFL, which will shine through immediately and hide some mistakes he may make as a result of being inexperienced at the professional level.
That being said, there is still quite a learning curve for him as it pertains to understanding certain defensive plays and schemes. Both were evident in the Ravens most recent game against the Redskins in a few plays . Smith made an excellent play in the end zone against Santana Moss, using his speed and awareness to break up a potential touchdown catch. But a few plays later, Smith blew the coverage and followed Jabar Gaffney to the flat instead marking Moss, who was already behind him catching a touchdown pass from Rex Grossman. Smith immediately threw his arms up, either recognizing he screwed up or complaining that Ed Reed should’ve been there. I’m sure someone eventually told the rookie it was his fault. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 23rd, 2011  The speculation about whether or not Peyton Manning will be on the field for the season opener against Houston Texans is one of the big stories leading up to the 2011-12 season. And why wouldn’t it be? Manning has taken every snap (excluding the preseason) for the Colts over the past 13 seasons while being one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in the league over that time period. He currently has 208 consecutive starts, which is good for second in NFL history behind Brett Favre’s 297. But Manning’s streak could be in jeopardy come Sept. 11.
It is unknown at this point whether or not Manning will be healthy enough to start the regular season after undergoing surgery to repair a bulging disk in his neck this past May. To add insult to injury, Manning wasn’t able to work with team trainers in the offseason because of the lockout, which has slowed his recovery considerably. But even with the setbacks Manning has encountered, I don’t see any way he doesn’t play in the season opener. I can say this with confidence because, well, he is Peyton Manning. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 20th, 2011 When you mix the first Ravens preseason game with anxious, excited, over-the-top Ravens fans and alcoholic beverages, wagers about the upcoming season will be made. I may or may not be speaking from experience here, but I know it happens. For the past four years, a popular conversation piece around Baltimore, mostly bantered back and forth within bar walls, has been about Joe Flacco’s on-the-field performance. There are both Flacco supporters and Flacco haters out there, but despite which side you’re on, the arguments for both are nothing short of interesting.
One of those interesting discussions arose during last Thursday night’s game between the Ravens and Eagles. The Flacco debate began and the overly confident predictions followed. To make a long, expletive story short, a wager was made about how Flacco’s statistics last season will compare to that of this season’s. The wager, which was brought on by the “uncertain” Flacco fan, consisted of the following stipulations – Flacco would have lower numbers this season in two of the following three statistical categories (yards, completions and passing touchdowns) than he did last season. The “confident” Flacco fan quickly complied, the two shook hands and the deal was sealed. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 16th, 2011
The Ravens will feature a lot of young players on both sides of the ball this season and, as a result, there will be some growing pains, especially early in the season. The offensive line is full of rookies, as is the receiving core, and the two projected starting tight ends are in just their second year. The defense has a good deal of experience, but will most likely need a few young guys to step up if they want to continue to be one of the best units in the league. Needless to say, the Ravens are in a transitional stage, which is a scary place to be heading into a regular season with so many unknowns.
The sad reality is that not all of these young guys are going to be successful at the professional level. Some will be busts, some will become average players and a select few have the opportunity to become superstars. It’s hard to tell exactly which of these players will succeed and which will fail, but here are two second-year guys I think will make the Ravens happy they drafted them. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 9th, 2011  As the regular season inches closer, the jury on how the 2011-12 Baltimore Ravens will finish is starting to emerge. The first edition of ESPN’s preseason power rankings have the Ravens at No. 9, which looks relatively accurate as it stands right now. There’s no way of having a spot-on assessment of the team so far considering our only analysis of the team is from training camp. Even the preseason games won’t give us much of an answer as to how the Ravens will fare in the regular season. So all we can do right now is guess how they will do using the little bit of information we do have.
I think best case scenario for the Ravens this season is 11-5 and a playoff berth. Worst case is 8-8, which in the AFC means they miss the postseason. So naturally I think they finish somewhere in the middle of the best and worst cases, which puts them at 10-6 with a possible playoff berth. They could easily win the division considering the Bengals and Browns will both probably be below .500 and the Steelers are susceptible to a mediocre season every few years. But the Ravens outcome this year really falls on how effectively Joe Flacco can lead his young offense. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on August 6th, 2011 For once in the past three years, Brett Favre made a good decision. Amidst the rumors of returning to the NFL for his 47th season, Favre denied that he was making yet another comeback. Thank the Lord. Don’t get me wrong, I like Favre and all but there comes a time where you just need to hang it up despite every competitive bone in your body telling you to come back for one more season. He probably should’ve just stayed retired after leading the Packers to a 13-3 record and a playoff berth in the 2007-08 season or after he took the Vikings to the NFC championship game in the 2009-10 season. But what fun would that have been?
I was worried for Favre’s legacy when I heard the Dolphins were interested in bringing him out of retirement. But thankfully he addressed the situation and made it clear he wasn’t coming back. I just hope he sticks to his guns this time. If he decides to give it another go, he will begin to erase the legacy he worked so hard to build. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on July 26th, 2011  As you all know by now, the Ravens have released four fan favorite, veteran players that will free up about $18.6 million in cap room. The news saddened both teammates and fans of Derrick Mason, Todd Heap, Kelly Gregg and Willis McGahee, but in the salary cap era it’s clear that personal relationships don’t factor in when it comes to taking care of business. I know that for some of you this is tough to hear. But you need to have faith in Ozzie Newsome and the organization that while these aren’t the most popular moves, they are in the best interest of the team. Nobody likes getting rid of quality players and leaders like they’ve done here. It’s tough for everyone affected by the moves, but the organization is looking at the bigger picture here, believe me.
Many Ravens have already made their outlook on the situation clear. They don’t necessarily agree with or like the decisions that have been made over the past few days, but they do understand the business aspect of the game. Some guys, such as Ray Rice and Terrence Cody, feel like they are losing their mentors. But I think it’s about time for the young core of Ravens, guys like Rice, Cody, Joe Flacco, Michael Oher and Lardarius Webb, to step up and become the new leaders of this team. Ray Lewis only has a couple years left at best and who knows how much longer Ed Reed’s health is going to hold up. So judging from this recent departure of leaders like Heap, Mason, McGahee and Gregg, I think it is clear the Ravens are putting the fate of this team’s future in the hands of their younger players. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on July 19th, 2011 Coming into the 2011 season, the O’s starting rotation looked to have a good deal of promise. They had a group of young guys (Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen) that all showed flashes, some more than others, of being very good pitchers in this league. They also had a veteran in Jeremy Guthrie, who brought some experience and leadership to the group. Matusz was the most promising of the young bunch especially after finishing last season on a roll, winning six decisions in a row and seven of his last eight. He looked to be on the fast track to be the ace of the staff and lead the charge of the O’s young and talented arms. That is, until he was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the start of the season with a rib injury. READ MORE >>>
By Steve Giles, on June 29th, 2011  Dating can be a lot of things. It can be complicated, stressful, fun, confusing, exhilarating and sometimes even downright scary. So for us guys out there, it’s imperative that we know as much as possible about the girls we are taking out so we can at least put ourselves in position to show them a good time. But before I delve too far into any specifics about the dating scene, I just want to clarify that I will be incorporating sports into this post. By no means am I a relationship expert and I know this site isn’t somewhere you go to get dating advice, but just hear me out on this one.
Even though some of us guys claim we know a lot about the female species, the truth is we don’t. But what most of us do know a lot about is sports. So when you decide to combine the two and take a girl on a date to a sporting event, you should choose the sport that puts you in the best position to earn another date. There are a few factors you need to take into account here, though. First of all, it helps to know which of the four major sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) she likes the best. READ MORE >>>
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